The Archives, Winter 2018

A new historical special section presented by the Lynden Tribune and Ferndale Record.

The Archives

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Featuring

Business & Agriculture

Lynden’s downtown history comes forward with another building restoration...............................................................C2 Looking back at the creation of Lynden’s Post Office mural....................................................................C4 Louis Auto Glass is nearing 90 years in business as a family-owned company.........................................................C5

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

Another downtown structure reclaimed Jones couple’s Lauckhart Building is next door to restored Waples Mercantile

By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — ­ As they removed the layers of extra flooring and suspended ceiling of the old building at 412 Front St., Kirby and Gina Jones were carried back into the early commercial life of downtown Lynden.

“We stripped it down to its barebones state that had been covered up for many, many, many years,” said Kirby of the couple’s ambitious effort.

They also dug into their sometimes scant and sketchy sources of information to piece together and verify an account of who did what and when and where in regard to this structure.

But looking into the past was all to create a new and vibrant future for what the Joneses call the Lauckhart Building in Lynden’s central core. They hope to find a tenant for it soon, possibly to be a classy restaurant on the first floor.

And the city recently approved the Lauckhart Building as the first entry on a Lynden Register of Historic Places. More places are expected to be added to this listing that was spurred by the 2015 restoration of the Waples Mercantile Building right next door at 444 Front St. — which is on a national list and will likely join the local one.

The City of Lynden has also hired a Port Orchard firm, Northwest Vernacular, to do a historic resources survey of the town in 2018 in cooperation with the Lynden Historic Preservation Commission.

The Lynden listing The City Council on Jan. 16 went along with a recommendation that the Lauckhart Building be the first listing on the Lynden Register.

The application went through the city Planning Department and the Lynden Historic Preservation Commission, a five-member group created in 2016.

A building on the register is considered to have “a significant association

In this 1941 photo by J.W. Sandison of crowds watching a parade in downtown Lynden, what was “The Rec” Tavern and today’s Lauckhart Building is immediately east of the Waples Building/Lynden Department Store of the time.

(Courtesy photo)

with the historic heritage of the community.” The property is eligible for special tax valuation for the costs associated with rehabilitation work, and it earns a certificate ensuring that the historical significance of the building will not be destroyed by any construction activity.

Lynden has developed 11 criteria for evaluating the historical significance of a structure, site, object or district.

In the case of the Lauckhart Building, four of the criteria are met, and this is the analysis of the Planning Department: • It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of national, state or local history. “[T]he Lauckhart Building represents a period of construction in down-

town Lynden that signified the town’s establishment and transition into the 20th century.”

• It embodies the distinctive architectural characteristics of a type, period, style or method of design or construction.

“It is a typical architectural style for a World War I period brick and wood commercial building.”

• It exemplifies or represents special elements of the city’s cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering or architectural history. “[T]he building reflects the [more than] 100-year-old downtown commercial construction that occurred during Lynden’s transition into the 20th century.

The commercial uses the building has housed (dry goods store, early photog-

raphy studio, tavern/pool hall) are an interesting reflection of the times. There are many stories to be told about the building.”

• It is associated with the lives of persons significant in national, state or local history.

“Henry Lauckhart was a successful real estate agent in Lynden who built the building as a dry goods store. R.L. Averill, who owned the building after Lauckhart, was a successful jeweler in Lynden for many years. They appear to be early pillars of Lynden at a crucial time in its history.”

Built between 1912 and 1918, the building has the age and integrity to convey its historic identity, according to the city.

Others of the 11 criteria for being

The Archives

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

listed include: • being the outstanding work of a designer, builder or architect • yielding or likely to yield important archaeological information • removed from its original location, but still significant for architectural value or being the only surviving structure associated with a significant person or event • being the birthplace or grave of a significant historical figure or the only surviving structure or site significantly associated with such a person.

In his application, Jones cites these aspects of the Lauckhart Building as being intact in original form: the plan (footprint, walls, roof, etc.); the siding/cladding, the interior (woodwork, finishes, flooring, fixtures). The windows are not original.

The building’s past Kirby Jones, who spoke to the City Council on Jan. 16, believes his structure was built from June through November 2012 with William Lauckhart Jr. as architect or builder.

Jones pieces together bits of information and various references that are mostly in the Lynden Tribunes of the time, accessible (to 1923) through the Chronicling America project of the Library of Congress (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov).

This is the presumed chronology: • In 1911, Henry Lauckhart Jr., from a family that had come to the area in 1882, was selling real estate and offering insurance under the name Lynden Pioneer Realty Co. • On Aug. 22, 1912, the Tribune reported in brief: “The new Jamieson store building is nearing completion, and will be ready for occupancy in a few days.

The building is a credit to the town and the man who erected it.”

It appears that Lauckhart was building this to be quarters for the Hugh Jamieson store, surmises Kirby.

The Armstrong-Hammond Dry Goods Company occupied the first floor and the Pyro Photography Studio was on the second floor.

• In 1919 the building was purchased from Lauckhart by D.L. Averill, who operated his jewelry shop on the ground floor and had other tenants, while living with his wife on the second floor. A photography studio continued on the second floor as well.

• Approximately from 1932 to 1962 Wally and Andy Parkinson operated the Recreation Tavern in the building offering “Lunch, Billiards and Confections.”

Kirby Jones stands inside the stripped-down first-floor interior of the Lauckhart Building, for which he is now seeking tenants and will finish the interior to suit. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune) The photography studio became Vander May’s and also a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness was upstairs.

Jones writes: “We don’t have too much information from this period other than some word-of-mouth stories of how ‘many a wife had to pull their husbands out of the Rec.’ • From the end of the Rec era to 1977 the Lynden Department Store used this adjoining space for men’s clothing or for appliances.

• In 1977 Wayne Sorenson bought the building to operate, with his wife, as Sorenson’s Hallmark Shop. The second floor was unused.

• From 1986 to 2007 Carol Preston continued to operate a Hallmark store under her own name.

• The building changed hands to Dick and Linda Peterson, although Preston contined to 2013. The Delft Square fire of June 2008 caused smoke and water damage that had to be dealt with.

The first decade of the Lauckhart Building This is more information the Kirbys have gleaned about their building, mostly from old Tribunes:

• By May 8, 1913, H. Lauckhart and H. Feenhouse have their insurance and realty offices together in the building.

• By September 2014 R.L. Averill, most recently with Bellingham jewelers, has bought out the jewelry store in the building heretofore conducted by Frank See Lauckhart on C5

Residential/Commercial

• New Construction • Remodels • Water Heaters

Allen Haak | 360-354-2187 allen@alselectricandplumbing.com 302 Hawley Street • Lynden, WA 98264

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

A New Deal artist paints a Lynden pioneer Mordi Gassner likely never visited Lynden Post Office murals across America were a Depression public works project This article by local author Jo Dereske was printed in the December 2017 Whatcom County Moments and Memoirs of the Lynden Pioneer Museum.

During the devastating Depression years of 1933 to 1943 the U.S. government’s New Deal created several job programs that funneled money directly to suffering U.S. citizens.

The Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts commissioned artists to paint and sculpt thousands of works of art to grace public buildings from coast to coast. “Artists have got to eat like other people,” Harry Hopkins, a Roosevelt administrator, responded when the arts program was criticized.

The most popular and enduring projects of the New Deal art programs were the post office murals. Fourteen hundred post office murals were painted in the U.S., mostly in small towns, many now lost or damaged.

Lynden’s “The Three Ages of Phoebe Goodell Judson” is the only New Deal post office mural in Whatcom County and is one of 18 painted in Washington state. All 18 still exist, while 16 remain as originally installed.

Lynden’s mural is located on the east wall of the post office (the Art Deco-style post office on Front Street was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991). Phoebe Goodell Judson (1831-1926), the first nonnative woman to live in Lynden, is fondly recalled as the “Mother of Lynden.”

The intent of the New Deal post office murals was to depict local life and history in a “classical, if heroic” style, often celebrating local scenes and events, giving hope and encouragement to people who’d suffered under the weight of the Depression. Artists were chosen through an anonymous competition judged by a national jury.

Mordi Gassner (1899-1995) was awarded the Lynden post office commission in July 1941, based on an earlier design he’s submitted in a New York competition. Originally from Brooklyn and educated at Parsons School of Design, he also painted other post

Lynden’s Depression-era Post Office mural continues on display today in relatively good condition. (Courtesy photo /Jo Dereske)

office murals in the eastern U.S. According to Karal Ann Marlin in "Wall-to-Wall America," Gassner was surprised to receive from Lynden a crate of materials already laying out a theme and plan for the mural, as well as its title, “The Three Ages of Phoebe Goodell Judson.”

Although they were encouraged to, many artists didn’t visit the communities where the post offices were located and instead painted murals in their studios before shipping them to the appointed post offices.

No record of Gassner having visited Lynden could be found.

In July 1942 the Lynden Tribune announced the “beautiful new mural” was on its way to Lynden. “The Three Ages of Phoebe Goodell Judson” was mounted in the post office by A. Vander Hoek and Sons, but the job couldn’t be completed until December 1942. The painting was too large for its designated wall and, according to the Tribune, “several inches had to be cut from each side” to fit into place.

The Mural: In vivid colors, Phoebe Judson’s life sweeps across the mural, portrayed, as its title declares, in three stages. Against the backdrop of Mount Baker and the Nooksack River, she alights from a canoe onto the shore of what will become Lynden, her “ideal home” (referencing her popular memoir, “A Pioneer’s Search for an Ideal Home”). She is accompanied by three children and two Native Americans. The scene then shifts to a

more mature Phoebe seated at a desk writing her memoirs with a quill pen — actually published in the 1920s — while her husband, Holden Judson, leans over her, gazing at a fistful of pages. The final third of the painting depicts a progressive Lynden during the closing years of Phoebe’s life: modern industry and advanced agricultural methods, as well as her large family. To quote the Lynden Tribune, “the dove of a peaceful, contented home life flutters from the hands of the happy children.”

As Marling stated in “Wall-to-Wall America,” the post office murals were fraught with controversy from “a public that screamed in protest, smiled in satisfaction, or merely yawned when they saw these New Deal stories in paint.” And to quote Patricia Raynor of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, “Many of these murals sparked local controversy when they were installed and caused heated conversations on whether the subject matter was accurately portrayed. Especially through a retrospective lens ... these artworks continue to provoke thoughtful discussion and debate to this day.”

“The Three Ages of Phoebe Goodell Judson” was no different, inciting both detractors and defenders. Recent renewed interest in New Deal artwork has led to restoration and recovery of lost works as well as preservation of those in existence.

Lynden’s post office mural is listed in several website and print guides that allow travelers to map a route across the United

States, or just through Washington State to view these historic treasures.

Who owns “The Three Ages of Phoebe Goodell Judson”? The mural is federal property and belongs to the United States Post Office. A 1975 agreement with the Smithsonian Institution provides for the relocation of murals if a post office moves or sells its building. The General Services Administration continues to catalog, identify and protect New Deal works of art.

Sources: * Lynden Tribune, 1939-1943 * Marling, Karal Ann. "Wall-to-Wall America," University of Minnesota, 1982 * National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Lynden Main Post Office * Raynor, Patricia. “Off the Wall” and “Exploring a Community’s Past through its Post Office Mural.” Smithsonian National Post Office Museum * Mahoney, Eleanor. “The Great Depression in Washington State.” http://depts.washington.edu/depress * Takisaki, Tracie Byrne, “Indians at the Post Office.” Smithsonian National Postal Museum * New Deal WPA Art in Washington. http:// www.wpamurals.com/washington.htm * “Post Office Murals” http://uca.postofficemurals The search term “post office murals” brings up several fascinating internet sites.

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

Rick Adelstein reflects on 90 years in business for Louis Auto Glass Company began in 1929 as an auto salvager

By Brent Lindquist brent@lyndentribune.com

FERNDALE — Most family companies don’t make it to a second generation, let alone the third.

However, Whatcom County’s Louis Auto Glass has become part of the very small group of family-owned businesses to make it to a fourth generation.

“Only 3 percent of family businesses make it to the fourth generation, and about a quarter of a percent make it to the fifth,” company president Rick Adelstein said.

Way back in 1929, when Louis Adelstein first started Louis Auto Parts, as it was then known, the company specialized in salvaging car parts. Much of the family was involved back then, too, with Louis’s son Mel working in the shop already in the seventh grade. Mel would later own the company before passing it to Rick, his son.

Since the mid-1950s, the company’s focus has been on auto glass. A short-lived radiator division didn’t last, and the local need for an auto glass shop continued to grow.

Louis Auto Glass filled, and continues to fill, that need. By 1959, the company had fully transitioned into focusing entirely on auto glass.

Curved glass became standard in the mid-1960s, creating more uncharted territory for the company to explore.

Though he currently serves as the company’s president, Rick Adelstein was not initially interested in taking part in the family business. He tried some other endeavors before finally landing at Louis Auto Glass parttime.

A big milestone in the company’s history came in 1986, spurred by a major world event that happened nearby. The Expo ‘86 World’s Fair took place in Vancouver, B.C., and thousands of people passed through Whatcom County and Bellingham every day, bringing business and prominence to the area. This got Rick thinking about expansion.

Louis Auto Glass opened a second location, this one in Lynden. Just two years later, in 1988, the company expanded again to Mount Vernon, totaling up to three glass shops in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

As for most locally grown businesses, national chain competition is a concern.

This factor has driven Louis Auto Glass to remain competitive by offering many of the same services the big companies do, including one-day service.

Another big part of Louis Auto Glass’s presence in the Whatcom community is focused on involvement, Rick said.

“We are a big contributor to the local community, and we support every single local organization out there,” he said. “We are there to support the community, all kinds of organizations. We like being able to donate back to the community.”

Rick’s daughter, Carrie, is now vice president of Louis Auto & Residential Glass, as the company calls itself. Rick’s son Ari and

Rick Adelstein is the president of his family's multi-generational business. daughter Lindsey are both involved as well.

Rick said the company has changed a great deal since the days of flat windshields and salvage, but it remains in his family.

“What a treat it is to be able to go to work every day. I’m about 67, and I go to work ev-

ery day and work side-by-side with my kids and my family. It doesn’t get any better than that. They’re there with you, continuing the success of the business and I’m watching them take over the reins and continuing to grow the business.”

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

Lauckhart Continued from C3 Cruikshank.

• In 1915 the Armstrong-Hammond Company advertises frequently in the Tribune its men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and household dry goods. Of what is now clearly called the Lauckhart Building, the claim is “our store is built of brick and concrete and it is COOL.” In September Armstrong-Hammond is “upon the threshold of our third year in business.”

• In January 2016 the ArmstrongHammond Company is having a “slash sale” in which “we’ve cut the stuffin’ out of prices” and “we are the little boys that will save you big dollars” (located right next to the Lynden Department Store.

• Still in the Lauckhart Building in September 1917, now Hammond Dry Goods was advertising, “We have more goods than money. You have more money than goods. Your dollar remains a dollar, but the price of merchandise keeps climbing, so whatever your needs, buy now for winter.”

• In February 1919 jeweler R.L. Averill purchases the brick structure on Front Street from Henry Lauckhart. It is two stories high and has a depth of 100 feet.

• The Sept. 23, 1920 Tribune announces that a new men’s furnishings store will be opened Saturday in the R.L. Averill Building. Bob Friedman of Seattle is the proprietor, installing a large stock of the newest men’s wear.

This is an excerpt from a bound print volume of old Tribunes in the Sixth Street offices: Oct. 3, 1912 Lynden Tribune news item Jamieson’s New Store The Farmers Mercantile Co. is now occupying its new store building erected during the summer. The building is 35 by 125 in dimension, of brick and concrete construction with a handsome pressed brick front. Two large show windows display on either side of the doorway enable this enterprising firm to display its goods in an artistic manner.

The front 80 feet of the new store room are occupied by the dry goods and clothing departments now in charge of Mr. Mark Hammond, recently from Wapato and one of the most experienced salesmen in the state. The rear 55 feet of the new structure is for the present being used as a storeroom for surplus stock,

Brick exposed under plaster, and the cover for a stove pipe, indicate where a chimney was in former days of the building. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune) but will later be converted to uses of the store proper.

The corner store formerly occupied by the dry goods department has been given over to the crockery, hardware and paint stocks, a complete line of stoves and ranges being a feature of this section. The grocery department remains in its former location.

A white balcony extends over the rear of the new store building and this space is devoted to the stock of ladies’ suits, skirts and cloaks, of which the first is carrying a large and choice line.

An attractive feature of the new store is a ladies’ rest room, provided with lavatory and other conveniences for the comfort of the lady patrons of the store.

The Farmers Mercantile Co. began business in Lynden seven years ago, and the steady increase in customers made the old quarters entirely inadequate, and necessitated the erection of the new building.

Mr. Jamieson, genial proprietor of the big store, attributes his success in business to three things: courteous treatment of all customers, honest and square methods in business, and judi-

cious newspaper advertisements, eliminating from the latter all ‘fake’ offers. He has implicit confidence in the future of Lynden and the Nooksack valley, and bespeaks for them the most prosperous times yet seen in this section. Believing that the town and country will grow even more rapidly than it has heretofore, he has placed his store in shape to care for the increased trade that is inevitable.

These are other excerpts gleaned from ChroniclingAmerica.com: July 1, 1915 advertisement of the Hammond-Armstrong Company in the Lauckhart Building To Our Out of Town Friends: “When you come in Saturday, we have just a dandy place for you to rest. Our store is built of brick and concrete and it is COOL. If you want to 'wash up' and comb your hair, the lavatory is handy.

Towels, comb and brush are there for you to use. If the children need attention, you will find everything convenient.”

Oct. 7, 1915 advertisement of the Hammond-Armstrong Company in the

Lauckhart Building A Change “We all like a little variety. ‘It is the spice of life.’ We have just received the niftiest, spiciest line of medium prices, waists we’ve seen for months. You see, ladies, we depend on factories that make a specialty of their line to give us the best value because they know. The one that makes an article knows better than you or we.”

Feb. 20, 1919 Lynden Tribune news item R.L Averill buys Lauckhart Building R.L. Averill purchased this week the brick building on Front Street adjoining the Lynden State Bank from Henry Lauckhart. The structure is two stories in height and has a depth of 100 feet.

Mr. Averill will move his jewelry store at once to his new building, and will occupy the entire ground floor. Mr. and Mrs. Averill will maintain apartments on the second floor of the building.

E. Wiese will also continue his Pyro Studio on the second floor.

The deal was made through the office of the Lynden Pioneer Realty Company.

Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

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Sept. 23, 1920 Lynden Tribune news item Will open new store for men in Lynden Saturday A new men’s furnishings store will be opened Saturday in the R.L. Averill Building. Bob Friedman of Seattle is the proprietor, and he is installing a large stock of the newest men’s wear.

The new specialty shop will occupy the east half of the Averill jewelry quarters.

It is being fitted up in an attractive way, and will be ready by Saturday morning.

Mr. Friedman has had many years of experience in catering to the needs of the men. He is a high school graduate and a university man, and has made a study of what the young men like to wear.

April 13, 1922 Lynden Tribune news item R.L. Averill installs handsome new awning A fine improvement to Lynden’s business district is being made this week

by R.L. Averill, who is having erected a handsome steel and glass marquise awning on his building. The awning is solidly constructed and will be banded with blue glass, with the name of Mr. Averill in art glass.

Cheers to the

Volunteers

The old intersects with the new in the second floor of the Lauckhart Building, which possibly has not been used for business or residence since the 1950s. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)

Throughout 2018, our newspapers will proudly highlight volunteers in our communities. These individuals strive to make the world a little brighter by helping others and by spending their time contributing to our community.

Here is your chance to help us celebrate them!

Cheers to the

Volunteers

Nomination Form

Nominee’s Name: _______________________________________ City of Residence: _______________________________________ Why Nominated (service to community):

Drop off this form or mail it to the Tribune office.

You can also email your nominations to editor@lyndentribune.com.

______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Nominated by: __________________________________________

360-354-4444 www.lyndentribune.com

360-384-1411 www.ferndalerecord.com

Phone Number: __________________________________________ Email: ___________________________________________________

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | Ferndale Record

The Archives

t Suppor pany s com ur s a l g e h t ports yo p u s t a h t nity. commu

Over 89 Years of Continuous Ownership and Operation by the Adelstein Family.

Louis Auto Glass boasts four generations in the same family Louis Auto Glass has been around since 1929, a fact that makes the business stand out among local businesses. The fact that it has existed in the hands of the same family all that time makes it all the more unique.

Louis Adelstein started Louis Auto Parts back then as a wrecking business, salvaging parts from old and unusable cars. Glass was always part of that salvage operation, and the business found itself specializing more and more in glass as the years went on. By about 1956, the Adelstein’s business was focused on auto glass, with the transition completed by 1959.

Current president Rick Adelstein took over the business in the 1980s, and today, Rick and his children Carrie (vice president), Lindsey and Ari are integrally involved with the ins and outs of the company.

Mel Adelstein Louis Adelstein

Louis Adelstein Sadie Adelstein

Mel Adelstein

Carrie Adelstein

Rick Adelstein

www.louisautoglass.com Bellingham • 360-734-3840 • 1512 N. State St. | Lynden • 360-354-3232 • 407 19th St.